The News That the ABF Does Not Want You to Hear!

Hello my fellow Black Sheep! The following opinions stated by me are my opinions only.
This past week proved to be quite interesting as news circulated about a couple of problems that were associated with the Adirondack Balloon Festival. It is funny how they try to keep news out of the media but it finally shows up unexpectedly. Screw the Post Star for not having anything about the following story and kudos to The Chronicle for the unbiased report.
If you wondered why you did not see the Saga City Balloon after all the headlines that it received prior to the Festival this is why. On Thursday morning, 9/18/08, 3 pilots took the balloon to the Queensbury School where they were to inflate it for the children. I wanted to do the same thing for the school that I work at but figured that the 12-15 mph winds were just too high for me. Obviously the Saga City pilots thought differently and decided to inflate the balloon for the kids. During the cold pack it was reported that the balloon, which was tied off thank God, launched into the air a good six feet and came down on a woman thus breaking a vertabrae in her neck. She was transported to Glens Falls Hospital and later sent to Albany Med. where she is recuperating. Thank God that nobody else was injured in this "accident". My question to these pilots is quite simply put, what the hell were you thinking? Was the pressure to perform that much that you made the decision to inflate when you knew the winds were as high as they were. I thought that safety was paramount to the ABF and their pilots? Obviously you 'tards did not get the memo! So now the ABF has a reportable accident to the FAA or will they distance themselves from the Saga Pilots to keep their "perfect" record of no accidents going? I will be talking to the FAA about the accident to see if they have it recorded as something that happened with the ABF or as a separate incident.
The next piece of info was told to me by a crew member of a well known ABF pilot and how the next mornings briefing went down. The ABF launched their balloons quite late into the evening on Saturday. The BSS balloons had either made a landing or were making approach as the ABF balloons were launching. One balloon inparticular was continuing NE towards Fort Ann and was above power lines. They were having trouble moving away from the lines and finally ended up landing at 7:20pm. FYI: sunset was 6:55pm that evening. The balloon also landed within 50 yards of the power lines and had to be pulled quickly away from them.
At the next mornings briefing it was lightly taked about and pilots were cautioned about it. Pilots should have told the ABF Balloonmeister that by launching them that late they were only asking for problems such as this to arise.
Finally, the ABF tells a guy that he cannot participate in their festival anymore for simply wearing a BSS t-shirt. Is that discrimination or what?
I would love to hear any comments so please be sure to send any.
More to come!!!!

2008 Black Sheep Rally!

The 2008 Black Sheep Rally took off on Friday morning September 19th and concluded after the Sunday AM flight on the 21st. We were able to get in 5 flights and enjoy one hell of a Pilot/Crew party at the South Queensbury Fire Department.
My thanks go out to everyone who was involved this year. Your professionalism was top notch, your safety and landowner relations were unmatched. We continue to show the organizers of the ADK festival that their Commercial Requirement is just plain dumb and borderline discriminate. I am honored to fly next to you all and have you all as friends.
Big props to Chris Liberti, Dawn Chase, Sally Mazzochi, Eric Hodges, Matt Lidinsky, Ted Ohara, BJ Sullivan, Jason & Heather Krug, John Kelly, Andrew Avon, Mark Pluta and Todd Monahan for flying these aircraft so well and safe. Our goal is to add another 10 balloons to next years count and add some sponsors to our Rally that will turn heads significantly!
The Black Sheep Squadron has become more than just a couple of guys who wanted to hang out and fly. It has become a following of many, many people from around the globe who has the same belief as we do. Fly the balloons without the politics spoiling it. One Festival will not allow us in, ONE! We can fly as Private Pilots damn near anywhere except our hometown Festival. That my friends is not only a shame, it is a sham! We will continue to tell people about this sham and how their requirement is lame. One day their heads will see the light after they pull it out of their asses.
Until next time, HAPPY FLYING and SOFT LANDINGS to all!

Schuylerville Canal Fest!

The BSS took to the skies above Schuylerville Saturday the 13th from the Canal Fest. This flight was the debut of not only Mark Pluta's maiden voyage as a Private Pilot but also the maiden flight of the "Clown n Around" balloon of Todd and Scott Monahan. The pilots involved were John Kelly, Todd Monahan, Mark Pluta, Jonathan Blackburn, Andrew Avon and Mike Hernandez. The flight was low and slow over the trees and fields off of Rt 4.
The Clown looked great flying along with the BSS and is an awesome addition to our family. Congrats to Todd and Scott on this aquisition. They were beaming like proud parents!


Mark, Andrew and Mike were able to find a couple of fields within 100 yards of each other to land. We all packed up and headed back to Lock 5 to celebrate.

At War With the Adirondack Balloon Festival

So the week begins with the Post Star having a press release stating that Andrew, Todd and Mike will launch from the Downtown Festival at 5:30pm in Glens Falls on Thursday, September 18th. The next thing we know the City talks to Walt and Joan and starts to have reservations about us flying from there. They said that they would decide by this past Friday after speaking with Walt and Joan a bit more about it. Article: http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/09/03/news/latest/doc48bef2e994508265529971.txt
Mike emails the Mayor to let him know that it is a conflict of interest and to speak with the 3 of us. There was a meeting and the City told Todd, Andrew and Mike that they could fly only if there was no display or handing out of anything Black Sheep oriented. Andrew and Mike decided to pull out and Todd made his decision based on his business only. Mike told Todd that he would not hold it against him and understands the decision.
There was an article the next day in the Post Star explaining some of the issues and then a great editorial about how the ABF should keep their noses out of something that does not involve them: http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/09/05/opinion/editorials/13882469.txt
The article about the Lift off getting heated is here: http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/09/04/news/local/13878601.txt
So we get to this weekend where the weather sucks and it gives us a chance to chill out and just relax. We will be flying on Thursday evening from one of our regular spots in Fort Edward/Hudson Falls and just have a great flight. Andrew and Mike are now done talking to any media outlets and have gone back to basics when it comes to flying the area. The ABF is slowly dieing and will not be around but so much longer. Enjoy it while you can........

Lake Lauderdale Campground Weekend

This past Labor Day weekend found The Carried Away Balloon Team and The Happy Hour Balloon Team gracing the skies above Cambridge and Shushan, NY at the Lake Lauderdale Campground. Andrew and Mike took many campers flying and even squeezed in a tether ride on a foggy Sunday morning. The campground provided us with the propane and we took their campers for some incredible flights.
On Saturday evening, Carried Away and Happy Hour behaved like magnets from launch to landing only separating at one point by about 50 yards. The pictures are great but the flight was even better. On Monday morning Mike was able to take a camper, the boy who did a great job painting Carried Away on canvas and a grandfather of one of his coworkers for a box X 3 flight. The hills were speaking the gospel as he used their odd breezes to maneuver the balloon all over the sky above the campground.
We have made balloonatics out of many of the campers as they were taught Crewing 101 the whole weekend and cannot wait for our return! We will be making plans to camp and fly at Lake Lauderdale twice in 2009.